Kathy Davy Speaks About A Potential Joint Literacy Project

On February 28, 2008, Kathy Davy spoke to the club regarding her passion for literacy and her desire to create a partnership between our club and St. James School to promote literacy. Ms. Davy, a 30-year resident of Arlington Heights, is currently Vice Principal of St. James School in Arlington Heights, and a reading specialist. She learned about Rotary's passion for literacy from an ad in the Daily Herald, wrote a letter to the club and eventually made contact with Pete Cavoto, Club Director of Vocational Services.

Ms. Davy focuses on reading through “differentiated learning,” which recognizes that not all students learn at the same pace. Historically, teachers have focused on teaching to the middle third of the student population; not giving enough attention to struggling students, nor appropriately challenging students who excel. Ms. Davy and others at St. James have learned that one size does not fit all students. They have developed a technique called a “Learning Circles,” which has resulted in tremendous reading success at St. James. As a result, of all of the schools feeding into high school district 214, St. James’ students had the best reading scores for the 2006-2007 school year. St. James achieved this result despite spending approximately half of the amount, per student, as the pubic schools in high school district 214.

A “Learning Circle” has several components, the most of important of which is the text set. A text set is a collection of books that have a common theme (e.g., relationships, diversity, or science fiction), but which contains books of varying difficulty. Each student chooses a book from the same text set that is appropriate for his learning level, and each student reads his or her own book. Following that all of the students can participate in a discussion regarding the common theme, despite not having read the same book. Students are also given a specific creative role in the discussion, and therefore read with a purpose in mind.

Ms. Davy and St. James believe that “Learning Circles” can greatly improve a student’s reading ability and want to share that technique in the community. She envisions St. James students leading “Learning Circles” at day camps and other groups outside of St. James.

Ms. Davy has asked our club to consider donating to St. James at least $500 (which is the cost of one text set for through fifth grade). For $1000 the school can acquire a text set for every grade, kindergarten through eighth grade. If you would like additional information about Ms. Davy’s proposed project, please contact Pete Cavoto or Ron Crawford.